Front Range

Marjorie’s was good. We knew that another lap or two in Marjorie Bowl would be the best skiing, but we’re suckers for a good aesthetic line. So even though Shit for Brains couloir looked a little worse for wear, we decided to head up it for our second lap of the day.

Yep, we’ve been hinting at it for a long time. We have been writing a guidebook. After 2 seasons of research, and one year of a lot of writing and editing, Backcountry Ski & Snowboard Routes: Colorado, published by Mountaineers Books, is finally done!

Pikes Peak has always been a bit of a favorite 14er of mine. I’ve hiked it multiple times, taken the cog, driven to the top, and skied off the top. It’s no coincidence that I saved Pikes Peak as my last peak when completing my 14er skiing project. So, when Frank’s sister and her kids were coming to visit from San Francisco, and Pikes Peak was brought up as something we could “do with the family”, I was in.

Back in 2006, I didn’t want the ski season to end. I mean, most years that’s how I feel. But, that was the year that I started to meet people who felt the same way. My friend Dave had talked about skiing some lines up by Rollins Pass in summer. So, when the calendar finally changed seasons, we headed up to that area of the Continental Divide.

Rocky Mountain National Park harbors some great backcountry skiing. Many of the lines are not easily accessible until Trail Ridge Road becomes plowed around Memorial Day weekend. But, thankfully the Bear Lake trailhead remains open all year and offers great skiing for those who are looking. Perhaps the most popular crown jewel of the area is Dragons Tail Couloir.

The calendar read that it had recently turned to summer, but there was still some good skiing to be had, especially if you looked in the right places. The Fletcher Mountain Northeast Couloirs are one of those places that hold snow late into the year, along with its neighboring Atlantic Peak. Although I have skied Fletcher from the west side, I had never skied it from the east, though it had been on my list for quite some time. I was able to rally my friend Natalie into joining me, as well as my friend Jess, who invited her friend Chad. We were a foursome that started early in the morning from McCullough Gulch Road.

I’ll be honest, it was one of my first true ski mountaineering lines. This line in Tenmile Canyon – a line I don’t even know the name of and still have trouble trying to find exactly which one it was as I pass by it on I-70 – it was this line that gave me the thirst. This line gave me the craving. It was this line that started love for ski mountaineering. It was this line that brought me to where I am today.

I always say that healing, just like climbing mountains, is as much a mental battle as it is a physical one. I’m not going to lie, I’ve had a few mental demons over the last three months. But, if any of them remained, I shooed their remnants away during my three hour bike ride. My pale exposed skin absorbed enough Vitamin D to last for weeks. The radiating smile on my face was proof that the ride was good for my soul.

From across the way at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, the Widow Maker is easy to spot. It’s ominous avalanche path swoops across the mountain and calls to backcountry skiers who dare. But, it’s an avalanche path, which means it does slide. Skiing the Widow Maker on a pow-day in the heart of winter would certainly lead to grave outcomes. Yet, our day was in spring. Late spring really – the day after a cement-like snow fell and bonded quickly to the stable snowpack beneath it. The Widow Maker was a good choice for the day.

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